Date: Mon, 7 Jun 93 08:41:15 PDT From: ed@imp.pnl.gov Subject: QRP PLUS Xcvr To: qrp@Think.COM Reply-To: ew_kleckner@pnlg.pnl.gov Message-Id: <9306071541.AA11521@imp.pnl.gov.pnl.gov> X-Envelope-To: qrp@think.com Greetings All -- I was at the SEA-PAC Ham Convention this past weekend and spent some time talking to a ham and looking at a couple of units billed as "A Quality Transceiver for the Serious Low Power Operator". Basic specs are: 5 watts CW & SSB 160M thru 10M, SCAF Digital Audio Filters (100 Hz to 2400 Hz Variable Bandwidth), 20 Memories, RIT, Split, Full QSK. Size is 5 1/2"W x 4" H x 6" D. Power is 140 Ma on receive, and 1 amp on xmit. Fully synthesized and LARGE display and lettering on front panel (I could operate this rig without my glasses!). Simple (but full) front panel has LCD Freq display down to 100 Hz though it tunes in 10 Hz steps. 20 dB switchable attenuator, Three pos switch for XCVE, RIT, SPLIT. REV button for split. BANDWIDTH button for adjusting (and displaying SCAF bandwidth). FAST button for tuning, MEM button for scanning through the memories (used together these buttons store to a memory). Mini-phones jack, S-meter, Volume/OFF control and Tuning Knob. On the back is Mic connector, screwdriver adjust output power level (for the milliwatters), sidetone level (freq seems to be fixed at 700 Hz, oh well...), power, etc. Most of the top of the case covers a "large" speaker chosen for efficiency. Got the fellow to pop the lid and looked inside. Construction was very clean and neat and consisted of 4 or 5 (can't remember) PC boards stacked horizontally and taking up most of the space. the design is a single conversion with up conversion to 50 MHz IF. A number of units are out for evaluation to fellow qrp enthusiasts and first production run in July. Price is listed at $595. For info you can write to: Index Laboratories 19913 48th Street Longbranch, WA 98351 (206) 884-3855 Comments: No detailed specs on performance -- he will send me a users manual with schematic, etc when available in next month or so. Was hard to judge perf in ham-com atmosphere with no antenna to speak of and background noise, etc. This might be a very nice unit at half the price and size of an Argo II. No separate modules compared to the Scout. If the specs and performance turn out to be as good as they should, this could be a real winner. I really liked the ability to operate split and the all-band function, as well as the variable bandwidth on receive. I suspect requests for info could help this guy gauge the market and encourage him in his endeavor. No connection at all, but certainly interested... 72 de N7YQR, Ed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ Edward W. Kleckner K6-84 Internet: ew_kleckner@pnl.gov ~ ~ Battelle Northwest n7yqr@amsat.org ~ ~ Battelle Blvd. Packet: N7YQR@WA7EAQ.WA.USA.NA ~ ~ Richland, Washington Voice: (509) 376-8425 ~ ~ 99352-0999 FAX: 376-5368 ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ====================================================================== Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 10:58:57 -0500 From: comas@dwcu03.nyo.dec.com (andrew comas) Message-Id: <9401201558.AA05760@dwcu03.nyo.dec.com> To: qrp@Think.COM Subject: QRP Plus Rig Review Well 6 months after ordering it, my QRP Plus arrived. A small box (5.5"w x 4"h x 6"d) and a lot heavier than I thought, maybe 4 pounds. The QRP Plus covers CW & SSB 160 meters through 10 meters. 5 Watts out on SSB and 0 - 5 watts on CW. It has a SCAF digital audio filter covering 100hz to 2400hz in 100hz steps. 20 memories, split and rit operation, and full break-in QSK. It also has a 20dB attenuator, a separate receiver antenna input and power/S meter. It claims .14 Amp (140 ma) power draw on receive and 1 Amp on transmit at 12 V and an automatic turn-off at 11V and below. I measured .13 Amp (130ma) on receive with 50% volume, 147ma on 100% volume. Transmit drew 1.15 Amps normal and 1.51 Amps on >3 SWR. I haven't tried the 11V auto-off feature, but this would be great for not killing off gel-cels. The unit is well made. Heavy 1/8" aluminum box holds 5 pc boards, 4 boards stacked on top of each other, separated by plastic-covered aluminum shields. The one other board holds the LCD and switches. Attached to the top cover is a large 3.5" speaker. The wiring is well laid out. The PC boards are connected with a detachable ribbon cable. I believe Bruce Franklin of Index Laboratories makes medical equipment and he applied those high standards to this little rig. Large switches, buttons and knobs make it a pleasure to operate. The display is easy to read, nice large .5" numbers on a .75" display. The fuse is mounted on the back in a standard fuse holder. The heart of this rig is an Intel 80C39 microcomputer chip. The chip controls the synthesizer (frequency control), display, filters, RIT, split frequency operation, iambic keyer, sidetone, and memories. I spent some time talking with Bruce about his selection of this chip. (My first job out of college was using these microcomputer chips to build embedded systems). I asked him why he used the 8039 instead of the 8051 (a slightly newer and more functional chip). He said that the 8051 was more RF sensitive. Well I have seen RF reset 8051s many times myself and spent plenty a night trying to prevent just that. He has put plenty of research into this rig. Another example is the easy-to-access, standard lithium battery (for memory backup), as well as recessed pots to set CW power, sidetone and mic-gain. He also includes a nice large tuning dial with a finger point for easy tuning. Having a nice tuning dial is very important, especially since all your selections are done by it. You press a FAST, MEMORY, or BANDWIDTH button (or combination to store into memory or set keyer speed) and then turn the main tuning dial to select. In frequency mode one full turn is 4Khz, in fast frequency mode one full turn is about 60Khz. You cover all the BANDWIDTH filters in a half turn, all 20 memories in 3 1/2 turns. The head phone jack is set for walkman type stereo headphones (don't try mono headphones; they won't work unless you plug them in half- way). The volume output for the headphones is more than adequate. I never get beyond 3/4. The receiver really shines. I could hear a lot more then I could ever hope to work and the SCAF filter is remarkable. You press the BANDWIDTH button and the display shows you the SCAF filter frequency in Khz. At 2.0 Khz, SSB is really clear, at .1 Khz it's a CW pile-up solver (or so says Bruce). The filters work very smoothly. Other nice features are: There are three recessed pots on the back which set: Mic Gain CW output power 0 - 5 watts continuous Sidetone volume (not frequency) The MEMory button toggles between the frequency in memory and the working frequency. A nice way to monitor a net or sked. The iambic keyer is not ready yet, but will be a free update when it is. The box is pre-drilled and labeled for the plug. So all that's needed is to upgrade the EPROM (the key is simulated in software like the CMOS Super Keyer II is) and the jack. The keyer speed is set via the main tuning knob and a button press. As with everything I have my complaints. The antenna connect is via a standard BNC instead of an SO-259 connector. The FAST tuning button moved at 60Khz per tuning dial turn. There needs to be a 1Mhz rate for quickly tuning bands. Of course this is only a pain until you set memories and use them to set bands. (The rig has some preset band frequencies which you can re-load into memory). I would have added a light for the LCD, but Bruce decided to save the 20-30ma and not add one (I asked him about this). I built my own mic from the Radio Shack speaker mic, but I couldn't get the mic gain to give more than 1 Watt out on SSB. Bruce said people were having mixed results with building their own. Index Labs will be selling one as an option. Other observations: As we see more and more things controlled by computers, functionality won't be our complaints, software bugs will be. And I hit one. When in RIT mode, pressing REVerse is suppose to give you the transmit frequency. It doesn't. It sets the receive and transmit frequencies to the RIT frequency. Nothing major and Bruce promises to fix it with the iambic keyer upgrade. Also the display frequency on my rig has a tendency to drift down 100hz after the first transmit. This is solved by switching into SPLIT mode. The SPLIT mode locks the frequency in and disables the tuning knob (and yes this means the BANDWIDTH control is locked out too, another software bug to be fixed). But on the upside, a software controlled rig allows for more functionality. Bruce is talking about letting the user set the QSK break-in time, paddle reverse all of which can be accomplished via software. The rig does not reduce power on high SWR since the transmit components are rated at much higher power levels than 5W, but may produce spurious signals. Overall this is a fabulous rig for the money ($595). It was built by a man who loves QRP for the QRP lover and it shows. The usual disclaimers: I do not work for Index Laboratories nor am in any way compensated. Just a happy customer. Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of Digital Equipment Corp.